A City on a Hill

Biblical Text: Matthew 5:13-20

There was an ancient tradition, probably coming over from the synagogues, where visitors would share news of what was taking place in the church where they were from. Maybe the salutation (“The Lord be with you”) at the start of the service is the ritual placeholder for that. We welcome you, please share. To which the response would have been to share and end with “and also with you”. The welcome has been given and accepted. This sermon is a bit like that. When you read something that is so profound it humbles you, you really need to share it. I could not come up with a better illustration of “a city on a hill” than the response of this pastor from Wuhan.

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Pester God? No, Trust Him!

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Biblical Text: Luke 18:1-8, 18:1-8 KJV

This text is one that I think has had much harm done to it over the years by overly pious preachers and translators. They promise things that Jesus himself is contradicting. And their promises often make God out to be a monster and a liar. I don’t know if I manage to do it, but I hoped to set it straight. The persistent widow is not a tale about how we should pester God. That oddly feeds into a prosperity gospel trope of “asking consistently and believing”. Instead it is much more specific. What is she asking for? Justice? When does Justice for the Christian happen? At the return of Jesus. Until then we live in the now and not yet. The Kingdom is now ours; it has not yet been fully revealed. Hence we persevere is asking “deliver us from evil”. And we do that because we have faith in the one who promised. Because the Character of God is not one that needs pestering, but one slow to anger and abounding is steadfast love. Persistence in prayer is just outward proof of persistence in faith.

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Pray, Praise and Give Thanks

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Biblical Text: Luke 17:1-11

How does one use the name of God?

The right use of God’s name always ends in thanksgiving.

That I believe is the message contained in the story of the 10 healed lepers. It is not just a miracle, although it is that. Neither is it an overly simple, “aw shucks, we should give thanks” lesson, although giving thanks is a good habit. It is really a lesson on who has used the name of God rightly. There are three groups named at the start: Jerusalem, Galilee and Samaria. All three think they know how to use the name. The 10 lepers use the name in seeking mercy. But only one receives the grace. Only one receives the kingdom. This sermon contemplates the 2nd commandment from Luther’s catechism, which is a spiritual classic. And it ponders our lives, our prayer, praise and thanks, in light of the command and the text. What does it mean to use the name of God rightly? Think about it.

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Do You Know Your Prayer is Heard?

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Biblical Text: Luke 11:1-13

I stole the main points and general outline of this sermon from one by Luther. I have to admit that I typically find Luther either so much part of who I am that he isn’t that helpful, or his context so different from ours that translating is likewise tough. But the shorter sermon I ran into was both interesting and immediately useful. I talk a little bit more about why it shocked me in the sermon. But the main points itself are answers to: what is necessary to be sure that your prayer is heard. Luther said five things are necessary. This sermon looks and them and fleshes them out for us.

Based on a Promise of God
Faith to Receive it
Lack of Bad Faith – this might be the big point for us and it is explored in the sermon. The big point is rely on the goodness of God.
Knowing our unworthiness
Trust God’s actions, don’t unnecessarily limit God in your requests

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One Thing is Needful

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Biblical Text: Luke 10:38-42

The text is Mary and Martha which has had an outsized influence on Christian history. It is not stretching it to think that the interpretation of this passage shaped Christianity from the 200’s to the Reformation. What I’m speaking of is the separation of the Christian Life into the Active and the Contemplative. But that division, isn’t really fair either to the historical reality or to the larger reality presented in all of Luke 10.

What this sermon attempts to do is understand Mary and Martha in the full context of Luke 10. It ponders how and why Mary represents the one thing needful, while at the same time giving Martha her place as one addressed doubly “Martha, Martha” by the LORD. (Ponder for a second the full list of those addressed this way. It is like finding yourself on a list with Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Barry Bonds.) And then it answers how we move from an anxious and troubled place, to the place of holding the one thing needful.

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Right Track Wrong Track

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Biblical Text: Luke 10:1-20

This sermon is a traditional mission day sermon. The sending of the 72. But I took it in a different direction. I wanted to ask a different question, or maybe I should say a question that I think is on many minds. For all the talk of missions and growth in the church, why does it seem like we see little of it? Why knowing that we need revival, does it not happen? To me there are three answers. The first is denial. Hey, it is not so bad. The second in to blame God. And the last is to examine ourselves. And this is where I think our text helps us. Jesus gives a bunch of advice to those on mission. 1) Pray earnestly. 2) Don’t take the moneybag. Depend upon the providence of God as you step out like lambs amidst wolves. 3) Receive the word of peace. And finally, 4) rejoice that your names are in heaven, which I take a reminder to put first things first, which is simply God.

This message might be a bit hot. I admit that. But I think it is true. I think it is a valid answer as to why revival tarries. It is a honest examination of why we know we have a spiritual problem, but it doesn’t go away.

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The Faithful One

Biblical Text: Mark 9:14-29
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I like this one. If I was going to edit a volume of sermons this one would go in there. It is built around what I think are the three big lines of the text.
– O faithless generation, how long will I remain
– All things are possible for the the faithful one (my translation, listen to the sermon)
– This kind only comes out with prayer
Each one of these lines addresses a problem of faith. Each one of them points us as the solution which is Jesus himself. We think of the exorcism as the healing here, but the true healing was done to the father and the disciples. The child was the sign. The child was the proof that Jesus is the faithful one.

I didn’t leave it in simply because of recording quality, but the hymns today were perfect. I was a very good day.

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Suit Up and Stand

Biblical Text: Ephesians 6:10-20 NLT
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This sermon in the conclusion to our summer reading of Ephesians. It might be one of the most memorable texts in the scriptures. Put on the Full Armor of God. This full armor, all the spiritual virtues that it represents, are every spiritual gift that the Father has given us through Christ. And when we suit up, we are enabled to stand. When we suit up we are united under one banner. When we suit up we can give a rousing witness to those powers that be.

I included our opening hymn – LSB 668, Rise! To Arms! With Prayer Employ You – for a couple of reasons. The hymn text is a wonderful capture of Paul’s entire conclusion, but just as important that text is sung to one of the most moving tunes in the book. And our organist put a stirring longer opening, so I couldn’t snip it out.

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Living Connected (To the Vine)

Biblical Text: John 15:1-8
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Jesus’ saying “I am the true and vine my Father is the vinedresser” is one of those sayings that is immediately accessible but almost limitless in imagination. This sermon starts out with a contemporary example of the negative, cutting oneself off from the vine. It then explores from the text what it means to stay connected. There are two things to staying connected that come from Christ, call them the life circulating in the vine and branches, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Then there are two things that are part of the sanctified life, trials or pruning in this context and prayer. We might focus on that pruning as the big asymmetry of the Christian life, but I think that is simply life in a fallen world. If anything knowing that the Father is going to make use of them is a benefit. They could just be bad luck. The big asymmetry to me is in the time frames considered. Those branches that remove themselves wither and are burned while those that stay connected have a perpetual growing season – eternal life.

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A Minute to Learn; A Lifetime to Master

Biblical Text: Matthew 5:36-6:18 (Lectionary reading was Matthew 5:36-48, I extended it to take in the next section of the Sermon on the Mount as next week is Transfiguration and lent leaving the Sermon behind.)

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We’ve been reading the Sermon on the Mount for most of the Epiphany season. The beatitudes as the entry; salt, light and a city on a hill as the purpose; you have heard, but I say as the doctrinal basis of the Kingdom. We’ve said that the Sermon functioned as a catechism for the early church. The one thing that Luther’s catechism could be faulted for – even recognized by the earliest Lutherans who attached the table of duties – is that is almost completely an expression of the faith which is believed (fides quae creditur) and ignores the practices of the faith which believes (fides qua). Jesus doesn’t neglect that in his sermon. That is why I extended the lectionary reading. Following his authoritative teaching of the 10 commandments, Jesus takes up charity/almsgiving, prayer and fasting. These are piety practices. Using Jesus words, how we practice righteousness.

The interesting thing about Jesus’ teaching is how free it is. He doesn’t mandate or limit piety practices. He assumes that we will have them and that they are necessary, but that we will live our own faith. What he is concerned about is that our piety practices are done with the correct heart. He is concerned that we do them to be connected to the Father instead of desiring the reaction of our neighbors. This is the difference between true piety and virtue signaling. Develop the first and you Father who sees in secret will reward; do the latter and you have received your reward.

The last movement of the sermon is to examine how the phrase that ends the doctrinal section “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” is fulfilled in Christ, and grows in us. The doctrine of the church can be summarized in a few minutes, the living of it takes a lifetime to master. And even then it is not us, but God who brings it to completion.

Worship Note: I have left in the recording two musical pieces. First between the OT and the Epistle readings our Choir sings a gorgeous piece. (I really need to get a better mic aimed there instead of simply ambient. I did raise the volume level slightly to compensate.) Then I left in our closing hymn, LSB 848, Lord, Whose Love through Humble Service which captures well I believe the force of the text. If we capture the vision of the doctrine taught, it empowers our lives. It also has one of the great tunes in the hymnal which is almost pure Americana from The Sacred Harp. If the American church adds nothing to the eschatological choir beyond these tunes, it will still have added something worthy.

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